Mr Bingles goes North !

Mr Bingles goes North !
By Pascale Otis & Grant Redvers
Language : English (narration)
Country of production : New Zealand
Year of production : 2013

Synopsis
Mr Bingles is ready for another adventure! This morning, our friend decides to head north on an exciting new journey. After sailing for days and getting through stormy weather, the adventurous little man finally reaches his destination. But Mr Bingles’ discoveries aren’t over yet because he soon gets a very cold surprise…

Pascale is a Biologist with a passion for sharing scientific knowledge with the general public. She has participated in many education programs based in the Polar Regions (both Arctic and Antarctic) and enjoys producing short films in her spare time with her partner Grant.

Grant Redvers

Grant Redvers
Many years ago, Grant traded his job as en environmental scientist to become a sailor. He enjoys leading expeditions on small yachts in cold places, supporting scientific projects. When not sailing, Grant gives a helping hand with puppeteering and narrating his partner’s children films.

Onboard Arctic Tern with the crew - Photo By Thorsten Milse

About Mr Bingles
Mr Bingles was born in a small town called Whareroa in New Zealand. He was made by his mom out of aluminium foil, steel wire and Fimo clay and baked in the oven at 150C for 15 minutes! Mr Bingles is held up by fishing line and pupeeteered by his dad with the help of 3 basic pieces of wood. He has velcro under his feet to hold the skis that his grandpa made him for Christmas (he uses them quite a bit in the mountains in Antarctica). Mr Bingles also has a hat (knitted by his dad), a scarf and warm slippers (knitted by both his grandmas). He loves going on adventures… but he seems to have a habit of getting himself in trouble every time!

Script
Mr Bingles woke up this morning. Fully rested from a good night of sleep.

He got dressed and made his bed. Then he watered his plants so they would keep growing. His small garden was very green !

It was now time to have breakfast. « Hum… what could I eat this morning », he asked himself.

« Cereal ? No… not this morning »
« An egg ? Maybe tomorrow »

« A piece of toast ? Oh yes ! I have an idea ! », Mr Bingles said.

So Mr Bingles toasted a piece of bread on his stove. He decided to put some butter on it. Then some strawberry jam. And also peanut butter. AND some cereal on the very top ! What a breakfast !!!

Mr Bingles sat at the table and started eating his toast. He took one bite, then a second bite, then another one… until there was nothing left… not even a single crumb !

Mr Bingles’ tummy was full and he was ready for his day. He took a look at the newspaper to see what was happening in the world today. They were talking about the North and icebergs that were floating on the arctic ocean.

Mr Bingles turned on his television to see if they were also talking about this on the local news. They showed images of all the animals that were living in the North and talked a lot about the biiiiig icebergs that you could see there.

Mr Bingles got very excited. He too wanted to see icebergs. So he looked through his maps and decided to go on a little trip. « Lets go North ! », he said.

Mr Bingles got everything ready on his sailboat and started sailing.

At first, it was very sunny. Then it got foggy. After a few hours, it got a bit stormy. There was water splashing on the deck and Mr Bingles even got a wave right in the face ! But that didn’t matter. Mr Bingles kept going and was very excited about his journey.

A while after, the sun came out again. Mr Bingles had reached his destination. He looked in every direction to try to find an iceberg. And there it was : something floating on the water. It was tall and white and looked just like what he had seen on television. « I think it’s an iceberg », he said. Mr Bingles wanted to see it closer. He got closer and closer… and closer. But he wanted to get ever closer ! In fact, Mr Bingles wanted to touch the iceberg !

So Mr Bingles jumped off his sailboat and jumped onto his zodiac. He drove away from his sailboat and got closer to the iceberg. The water was very clear and Mr Bingles could even see the ice under the surface. The iceberg was floating on the ocean !

Mr Bingles decided to jump on top of it. As soon as he landed on the iceberg, he realised it was very cold ! Mr Bingles was not wearing any hat, he was not even wearing his scarf! He had no gloves and no boots either. He was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts and was bare foot ! It was sooooo cooooold !

Mr Bingles started jumping up and down. But every time his feet would touch the ice, he would get a very cold surprise.

Mr Bingles went back on his zodiac and drove quickly to his sailboat. He hurried inside and tried to warm up next to the hot fire. But Mr Bingles was still cold. He snuggled under his blanked and was happy about his day. But he swore he would never again go play outside without first putting proper clothes on !

« Brrrrrr…. Soooo coooold »

Mr Bingles at the Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival 2013, New Zealand!